Influential voice

Not proven
We will make sure the interests of justice are preserved in the Scottish Government's review of the three verdicts system and other criminal justice reform.

 In April 2023, the Scottish Government introduced its Victims, Witnesses, and Justice Reform (Scotland) Bill, which proposed substantial changes to the criminal justice system.

We engaged extensively and contributed to the debate on the Bill. We welcomed several provisions that could positively impact the public perception of our criminal justice system and the experiences of victims and witnesses. These include the establishment of the Victims and Witnesses Commissioner for Scotland, the implementation of the principle of trauma-informed practice and special measures in civil cases, and the establishment of independent legal representation for complainers.

However we expressed serious concerns regarding provisions related to the change in the number of jurors, the creation of the Sexual Offence Court, and the implementation of the single-judge pilot for rape and attempted rape cases. In some of these provisions, we identified potential threats to judicial independence and the rights of the accused. The Bill remained at stage 1 at the end of the operating year.

Legal Aid
We will ensure legal aid firms are effectively supported through the changes to our courts and press the Scottish Government to create sustainable fees levels and structures on legal aid for the long term.

The Scottish Government confirmed an additional £11 million for a 10% increase in fees, which came into effect in April 2023, and we continued to advocate for long-term reform.

We also continued to push the Scottish Government for further action to address the exodus of solicitors from the sector, as well as the issue of legal aid being increasingly unattractive to newly qualified solicitors.

We pressed for regular fee reviews to replace the current ad-hoc approach, aiming to put an end to decades of underfunding for legal aid. Implementing a system of regular reviews would revitalise the legal aid sector and ensure access to legal advice for all to uphold their rights. We argued that a fee review mechanism should be handled independently of a benchmarking process to provide confidence in the process to the profession. However, the Scottish Government committed to a fee review mechanism, with benchmarking necessary not only to establish baseline fees but also to identify factors that may influence the review mechanism. We continued to press the government on interim measures, stressing it was unsustainable for fees to remain frozen during this intervening period.

The Society's Legal Aid Committee co-conveners Ian Moir and Pat Thom and Fiona Menzies, secretary to the committee, were appointed to sit on the Research Analysis Group to represent the Society. The work was third on the waiting list for a buyer in October 2023. Scottish Government Procurement was to undertake a tender process. This was not completed in 2023.

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Scotland Constitution
We will take a leading non partisan role which facilitates an informed debate on Scotland's constitutional future ahead of any new referendum.

At the beginning of the year, the Lord Advocate had referred to the Supreme Court the devolution issue and question of whether legislation providing for an independence referendum would relate to a reserved matter in terms of the Scotland Act 1998. As with the 2014 referendum, we wished to be prepared to play a full and non-partisan role in any debate that was to come.

In November 2022 , the UK Supreme Court judgment ruled that the Scottish Parliament cannot pass legislation without the agreed consent of the UK Parliament. Due to the this and the unlikelihood of a new referendum before the next UK general election, work on this matter was halted during the operating year.

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Reform legal services
We will engage with the Scottish Government as it finalises its policy plans on reforming legal services.

In April 2023, the Scottish Government introduced the Reform of Legal Services (Scotland) Bill to the Scottish Parliament. This followed an independent review and a consultation in 2021.

While the Bill includes several positive aspects, many of which are as a result of the Law Society's own suggestions, serious concerns were raised over proposals to introduce sweeping new powers for political control and intervention in the way solicitors are regulated. This undermines the fundamental principles of independence of the legal profession and the rule of law.

We engaged extensively the Scottish Government, MSPs and various stakeholders, and as the operating year concluded, remained committed to advocating our case during the Stage 1 process in the Scottish Parliament, while preparing amendments for Stage 2, expected in 2024.